There are a lot of talented poets at Endicott College in Beverly where I teach. I can name Dan Sklar, Margaret Young, Charlotte Gordon, and today’s feature Abigail Bottome. Well as you know, we’re here today and gone tomorrow, and Bottome illuminates this wonderfully with her poem Extinction. I also included a poem by Dan Sklar, who teaches English at Endicott and has often appeared in Somerville’s Ibbetson Street Press as well as the LYRICAL. To find out about Endicott’s creative writing program go to:  http://endicott.edu.

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Extinction

The latch won’t hold

humid summer air swells wood

Ah! the click that signals closure

Holds fast, lest this door

Unmoored, lifted by errant midnight wind

would swing and bang.

Check the lock, secure the casement window

framing a rising moon called Sturgeon

that once sniveled along sandy river bottom

Its carapace a jewel glow in moon light

Gliding through indifferent time.

– Abigail Bottome

ONE SOUL

Sometimes

I don’t know

anyone

in the world.

I walk around

and don’t

recognize

a soul.

I am busy

doing things

and sleep

on the couch.

The cat leaps

on to my legs.

All I see are

gray trees

outside

against the

white sky.

I am one soul

walking around

as confused

as anybody.

We are one

soul walking

around

looking busy.

– Dan Sklar

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